Internet Marketing Blog

Punch Pizza Flickr Photo Contest Campaign

Punch Pizza was in the process of getting their web site built when they came across a blog post by local pizza blogger Aaron Landry that was mildly critical of Punch for prohibiting him from taking a photograph of their pizza oven, as was wren at Flickr.

Landry's post led them to Flickr and they realized that many people were posting they'd taken at Punch Pizza locations and the quality of those photos were striking. On Facebook, they found a Punch Pizza fan club.

If your product or service is great, then your customers are likely to fans as well. Punch has great food and as the Flickr photos and Facebook fan club illustrate, they have fans.

This social media activity inspired Punch to create the Punch Neapolitan Pizza "Capture Our Fire" Flickr photo contest. Though they had legitimate business reasons to keep people from taking pictures of their ovens, Punch Pizza eliminated the no-photos policy. As Landry's blog post and the photos of Punch at Flickr made clear, their customers were also fans. If they wanted to take photos, the potential of someone stealing trade secrets was outweighed by making their customers happy.

They are giving away $3000 worth of Punch Pizza dining cards to the winners and they'll use the contest entries for their new web site when it launches. That will certainly make customers very happy.

We helped punch Punch navigate the social media waters by building the infrastructure through which they could learn a new way of communicating with their customers.

Punch Pizza co-owner John Puckett wanted to let Aaron Landry know that they'd changed their photo policy and were launching the contest, so he emailed Aaron and invited him to take part in the contest.

With that, the contest was launched.

Yahoo Upgrades Search Engine, Blends Search Results

Yahoo! has just unveiled upgrades to their search results after Microsoft had done the same late last month for their search engine, Live.com.

One of the primary upgrades is Yahoo!'s Search Assist function that tries to anticipate what you want as you type your search query by offering related alternative search phrases in a similar but more comprehensive way than Google's preceding service, Google Suggest.

Here's a screencast of Yahoo!'s Search Assist in action:

Search Dominance With Blended Results

Search Engine Land provides a good rundown of Yahoo!'s new search features but for our purposes, the one I'm most interested in is that they've added blended search results. That means they are including within the search results page links to  audio, video and photos as well as web pages. For video, they are actually including an in-line player, so you can watch the video directly on the search results page.

Google, of course, has been doing just that for some time. The following screenshot shows Google's in-line video player for the search results for "joe mauer batting tips." (Click on the graphic for more detail):

That same search, "joe mauer batting tips," is going to help me demonstrate the importance of not just search engine optimizing your own web sites, but also uploading and optimizing your own content to other online centers of gravity where large audiences congregate and share such as YouTube and Flickr.

We uploaded and optimized a 14 minute training video that comes with the Mauer's Quickswing batting training product at many of the popular video sharing sites such as YouTube, Google Video and iFILM. We also opened a Flickr account and uploaded and optimized photos of the Mauer's Quickswing. We did this long before Google rolled out their blended search results feature.

But when they did, the result of that work was that the preponderance of the links on the first page of results for "joe mauer batting tips" lead to content that we provided, either through optimized web sites or optimized content on other sites.

Now that the other two major search engines offer blended search, the same dominance of the search results holds true for both Microsoft's Live.com for "joe mauer batting tips":

...as well as at Yahoo! for "joe mauer batting tips":

The happy end result was that the vast majority of the links went to either the client's site directly, or to essentially product placements, with either photographic or video demonstrations of the Quickswing product.

That's search saturation.

Twin Cities Meals On Wheels Google MyMaps Mashup

Molly Kennedy of the Twin Cities are Meals On Wheels has created a wonderful Google Maps mashup of Twin Cities metropolitan Meals on Wheels locations. She used Google's new MyMaps feature.

We helped them out embedding the map into their web site, but Molly did all the hard work of creating the map and drawing the service boundaries. The map is an excellent, real-world, practical example of a maps mashup.

Google really needs to improve the ability to unearth quality citizen generated content like these maps, though. If you search for Twin Cities Meals on Wheels at Google Maps, you'll get a list of locations, but the only way you'll find this specific map is if you scroll down to the bottom of the list and click on See user-created content.

A few improvements:

1. The link should be called "See user-created maps", not content.
2. For any search that has user-created maps associated with the keywords of the search, perhaps the link should appear at the top of the list of locations, next to "Modify search."
3. Include a link to any user-generated map that is associated with an "official" location, within that location's listing; perhaps next to or within the "more info >>" link.

AliShops.com: New Twin Cities Shopping Web Site Launch

On Monday we launched AliShops.com, The Insider's Guide to Twin Cities Shopping. The site is the brainchild of Pioneer Press Savvy Shopper columnist Allison Kaplan, and features short, informative, and engaging reviews of Twin Cities neighborhood stores.

Graphic Design

The site had to be visually appealing, quick loading, easy to navigate, and, just as importantly, search engine friendly. The illustrations for the site were designed by my friend Patty at Spot Design. They give the site both elegance, visual charm, while also immediately identifying that the site is about shopping.

Search/User Friendly Database Design

AliShops.com features a database backend to handle the content and administration of the site but we specifically designed the database to include search engine marketing features. Each page on the site can have custom meta titles, descriptions, and keywords. The URLs for each page use keywords rather than ID numbers to describe the content of that page. All of these features contribute to help optimize an individual page on the site for a specific search phrase while also providing more information for the site's visitors.

We also designed the database to make it easy to sort the stores on the site in numerous ways, such as by category and neighborhood, city, county and even zip code.

The site search function is fairly robust, searching nearly all the database fields for the stores. Site visitors can further refine their queries by sorting their searches by name, category, county, neighborhood, city, state and zip code.

Search Friendly Coding

The pages of the site use cascading style sheets for formatting and layout in order to both follow website design best practices and to make the pages as easy as possible for search engines to understand, and therefore index. The site looks and works well in all major browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari for the Mac.

Advertising Management System

Though AliShops.com does not sell advertising, we implemented an ad rotation/management system for Allison to run internal sitewide promotions, such as one encouraging visitors to sign up for her free email update. The advertising management system allows campaigns to run sitewide or within specific sections. Ad campaigns can be set to expire automatically at a date certain or after X number of impressions or click-throughs. The system can handle graphical banner ads, text-based ads, or even rich media.

Social Bookmarking Integration

In order to promote sharing of the site and to provide a helpful feature for visitors, we built in the capability of visitors to save individual store review pages (example, scroll to bottom) to popular social bookmarking services such as digg, Google Bookmarks, del.icio.us, Furl, or to email the page to friends.

Not only does this help visitors keep track of their favorite pages, but it also allows other people who are using those services to find AliShops.com.

Email Marketing

We also designed a template email to match the look an feel of AliShops.com for her to use for her weekly email update. The update service provides subscribers with sales and specials and notice of when new stores and shops are added to the site. Email newsletters are a superb way to build an ongoing relationship with visitors.

Blog Marketing

Finally, we designed a companion blog for the site, AliShopsBlog.com. The blog provides Allison with a communication vehicle that is personality driven--more intimate and informal--which helps to make a personal connection with her visitors. With the ability for readers to comment on her blog, she can engage her audience in a conversation while gaining valuable insight into what they'd like to see in her Internet presence.

The blog features the same social bookmarking features that AliShops.com boasts, as well as RSS feeds for popular RSS readers.

We designed an email update template for the blog that matched the look and feel of the site, as well. The blog's email update allows her subscribers to get a weekly email containing all the blog posts for that weeek.

The Numbers Behind Joe Mauer's Rising Star

Minnesota Twins starting catcher Joe Mauer currently sits atop Major League Baseball's hitting leaderboard with a .392 batting average. A former Twin, Hall of Famer Rod Carew flirted with a .400 batting average toward the end of his amazing 1977 season when he ended with a .388 average, which is the closest anyone has come to Ted Williams' record season average of .406 in 1941.

That's how hot Joe Mauer and his .392 average is right now. There's every reason to believe he could maintain that type of production in the second half of the season, considering that he's been a steady rather than streaky hitter.

We've been charting the online buzz Joe Mauer is creating for our client, Quickswing, and the data gives an interesting glimpse into how search traffic and Internet buzz surges and wanes with events.

Joe Mauer Search Queries

As a small market team in a division that has been dominated by the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers the past few seasons, the Twins don't garner a lot of attention. Joe Mauer's national awareness suffers as a result. Couple that with the fact that he was injured for much of his rookie season and had a good but not astounding full season last year, and it should come as no surprise that the volume of "Joe Mauer" related searches should be relatively modest. The following Google Trends chart shows Joe Mauer searches from 2003 to 2006:

You can see that the Joe Mauer search history has thus far been one of spikes and flatlines. That first spike was no media coverage of the Twins picking him first overall in the MLB draft. But, as you can tell from the 2006 data, he's starting to garner a lot of attention. During the past 90 days, there were 364 Joe Mauer-related searches, according to Wordtracker data. The following Google Trends chart shows Joe Mauer searches for January through June, 2006:

Though Joe Mauer related search volume is gaining, the real buzz is happening in the blogosphere and it has really taken off during the past few days as Mauer's batting average approaches .400. The following Technorati chart shows "Joe Mauer" blog mentions from May 31 to June 29, 2006:

Mauer's Quickswing Relaunch

I'm pleased to announce that we've just relaunched the Mauer Quickswing Web site on behalf of our new client, Quickswing, Inc.

Most Minnesotans will quickly recognize the name Mauer as belonging to one Joe Mauer, the Minnesota Twins' starting catcher and the first overall draft choice in the 2001 Major League draft.

The Mauer Quickswing is an absolutely ingenious device created by Joe's father, Jake, to allow his sons to practice their swings indoors during Minnesota's cold Winter months. It was designed to help develop a short, compact, quick swing--the kind you'll see if you watch Joe Mauer at the plate.

Quickswing wasn't getting the search engine traffic they wanted, so we conducted keyword research to determine what phrases people were using to find similar products and then search engine optimized their site to incorporate those phrases.

We also tweaked the site to make it easier to use for visitors and hilghlighted product links throughout the site.

Quickswing sells a variety of baseball training aids in addition to the Quickswing product itself.

A Practical Use For A Google Mashup

We just launched a Google Maps mashup for our client, Minnesota Martinizing Dry Cleaning. If you're unfamiliar with the concept, a "Google Maps mashup" is simply putting one source of online data on top of a Google map, so you have data points on the map.

In the case of our client, we created a Minnesota dry cleaners map that features all of their Minnesota locations. If you click on one of the balloons on the map, you get a pop up window with the address and telephone number of the location, as well as a text box to enter your starting location so you can get directions. This is an example of a very practicle use for Google Maps that can add value and usability to your online presence.

For an example of a Google Maps mashup that is purely a marketing vehicle, check out HBO's absolutely amazingly done Sopranos Map. Click on a location on the map and you get a short video clip from season five of what happened at that location, a text blurb explaining the context, and other information that is tightly integrated into the Sopranos section of HBO's site.

The Soprano's map created a lot of online buzz when it was released and that buzz helps create excitement for season six that begins this Sunday.

Technorati tags: minnesota | dry cleaning | dry cleaners | martinizing | minnesota martinizing | minnesota dry cleaning | minnesota dry cleaners | maps | google | google maps | google mash-up | hbo | sopranos | sopranos map

Joe Mauer Plays Off Joe Green In New Twins Ads

The Minnesota Twins just released two spots for their new television advertising campaign and they're available at their web site. One features Torri Hunter at a kid's birthday party and the other features Joe Mauer in a take off of the 1979 Coke commerical featuring Pittsburg Steelers defensive end Mean Joe Green.

Sites such as Google Video and iFilm have got the viral marketing aspect of online video figured out. Those sites provide code for many of the videos they offer so site owners and bloggers can easily paste the video into their site. This is another indication of the explosion of what I'm calling the Sharing Web. As more and more people begin to blog and use such social networking tools as del.iciou.us and Flickr, the viral component of online marketing becomes more important than ever.

Unfortunately, the Twins don't offer code for their commercials but iFilm does, so you can compare the Joe Mauer spot with its predecessor, the Coke ad:

Mean Joe Green Coke Commerical:

Technorati tags: minnesota twins | torri hunter | joe mauer | baseball | tv | television commercialstelevision ads | online video | online advertising | viral marketing | buzz marketing | sports marketing | google video | ifilm | del.iciou.us | flickr | social networking | sharing web

Ecommerce With A Personal Touch

RomeoShops.com's tagline is "because guys can't shop," and  that pretty much sums up the value they offer: Helping guys shop for gifts for the women in their life.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, they've added an advice section to their web site where visitors can ask the ladies of RomeoShops.com for advice. It's a great tool for building a relationship with their customers while offering a service as well.

Targeted Internet E-mail Marketing

One of our clients, The Great North Alliance, publishes an email newsletter that will help to illustrate some of the elements that constitute succesful targeted Internet e-mail marketing.

The Great North Alliance is a regional civic leadership organization that focuses on the economic vitality of the Twin Cities, Minnesota metropolitan area.

In order to build a relationship with executive-level professionals in Twin Cities organizations that play a large part in the Twin Cities vitality, we suggested that The Great North offer a free, valuable email newsletter that would appeal to that audience.

We created a twice-monthly compilation of links to news stories that have a bearing on the economic vitality of the Twin Cities. The elements that made the newsletter a success are that it offers value in the form of compelling content that subscribers use in their jobs and it saves them time.

The numbers tell the story: The thousands of subscribers consist of corporate CEOs, nonprofit executive directors, entrepreneurs, government and elected officials at the state and local levels, members of acedemia and the media.

The Great North email newsletter allows the organization to communicate with these people on a regular, ongoing basis. It positions the Great North as an expert--if not the preeminent expert--on the Twin Cities econmic and competitive capacity.

The Great North publishes the semi-annual Oppportunity Forecast, which is the core of it's purpose. They've just released the most recent Forecast and the success of their email newsletter provides the Great North with an excellent distribution channel to the people in position to have the most effect on the vitality of the Twin Cities economic competitiveness.

You can subscribe the the newsletter (and get the Opportunity Forecast report) at TheGreatNorth.com.